The odds of the world entering a much larger global conflict have never been higher. When Trump issued airstrikes against Qasem Soleimani, a top Iranian general responsible for a reign of death in the Middle East, liberals talked about it in alarmed tones that WWIII was around the corner. It wasn't. That was a strategic strike.

At the present, however, a far different set of circumstances presents itself. We have multiple regional conflicts threatening to sew themselves together in a broader conflict. Russia is still at war in Ukraine, with the US and Europe funding Ukraine. Israel is fighting Hamas in Gaza while moving towards a broader war against Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies.

On January 11, 2024, the United States and the United Kingdom launched a "massive retaliatory strike" against Iranian proxies in Yemen, the Houthis. These strikes were meant to answer the growing hostility from the Houthis, who have attacked US troops and Israel.

The question is whether we remain solely at war with proxies or Iran or decide to hit the problem itself. Amid this, China faces a dimming chance of retaking Taiwan. The collapse of China's demography due to the one-child policy is bearing fruit now. Furthermore, China's economy is shrinking due to deflationary shock from its crippling COVID-19 policies.

If China wants Taiwan, the window it has to act is shrinking every day that passes, not broadening. The time to strike is when the United States is divided between Ukraine, Israel, and the Middle East versus the entire Pacific theater.

On the United States side, we're currently governed by a geriatric President that no person in either party believes is up to the tasks of the job on a daily basis. Every elite newspaper or media outlet has run multiple stories about the shrinking capacity of Joe Biden. This isn't some conspiracy - it's an open secret everyone knows in Washington DC.

Biden faces a 2024 election, likely against Donald Trump, and there's precious evidence either is ready for a global conflict. The world's descent into a conflict is happening on Biden's watch, and Trump is smitten with the idea these countries can simply get negotiated out of their positions like a real estate deal.

Iran, Russia, China, and others aren't flexing in the mirror trying to get the best deal out of the situation. There are true believers involved who seek nationalistic goals. Preventing them requires strength and resolve.

The point of this is not to point out the obvious that everyone can see but to ask the critical question of how we are prepared for this conflict.

As early as 1933, Winston Churchill started warning his country that conflict with Nazi Germany was inevitable. The Germans didn't want peace; they wanted weapons and rebuilding. World War Two wouldn't start in earnest until 1939. Churchill, who was out of favor in his country then, repeatedly warned that his country was ill-prepared to fight a war.

The United States removed itself from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, only to immediately start funding Ukraine. We're starting to balance Israel on top of that while splitting our Navy's response between the possibility of three large conflicts.

How are we preparing for that? Well, it's hard to tell since the Secretary of Defense was recently hospitalized for cancer and told no one. What's worse is that no one noticed he was missing. As much fault, as he bears for that mistake, we should be asking how prepared the United States is to answer these issues when no one in Washington DC notices when the Secretary of Defense goes missing.

The President isn't much better, having completely botched the withdrawal in Afghanistan and never executing a negotiated ending to the war in Ukraine. The combination of those two failures has weakened the United States. Biden has also failed to build on the historic Abraham Accords, the most obvious point that would have pulled Saudi Arabia into the agreements.

America has the most powerful military on earth by a mile. That is combined with the most powerful economy on earth. These points can erase many problems very quickly in any conflict. Preparation is still critical, though. The US was unprepared for COVID-19, and it cost us.

In a pandemic, you can afford to catch up. It's harder to pull that off in a war without significant cost. Biden was unprepared in Afghanistan, and it cost the lives of US troops and destroyed Afghanistan in the process. That region may never recover.

We can't do that with a combination of Russia, Iran, and China committing bad acts across the globe in an expanding conflict. We must prepare now. We must ensure our military is ready to handle the consequences of our actions - or inaction.